The Tracy Police Department has set up a mobile command post on West Clover Road as a helicopter searches the area for an 8-year-old girl who has been missing since Friday afternoon.

Sandra Cantu was last seen at 4 p.m. Friday, and the official search began at 8:15 p.m., police said. She was supposed to be at a friend’s house in the Orchard Estates mobile home park, where she lives, but she wasn’t found there.

Police have searched all night. The FBI, California Highway Patrol, San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office, Tracy Volunteers in Police Services, Tracy Community Emergency Response Team, Tracy Fire Department and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are helping in the investigation.

Sandra is described as 4 feet tall and 85 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings.

Anyone with information that would be helpful in the investigation is asked to call the Tracy police at 831-4550 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.

A nonprofit group, the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation, has offered a $5,000 reward for information that would help police find Sandra. Tracy Crimestoppers and the FBI already said they’d award $2,000 for information leading to her whereabouts.

Anyone with information about Sandra’s whereabouts is encouraged to call Tracy police at 831-4550, Tracy Crimestoppers at 831-6847 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.

One of the two people of interest is a man named Chris Sinclair. FBI agents arrested him at his house Monday night on an unrelated matter. He says when it comes to the disappearance of Sandra Cantu, he is an innocent man

TRACY — Investigators on Tuesday were searching three impounded vehicles for clues in the case of an 8-year-old Tracy girl who has been missing for nearly five days.

The vehicles were taken to the Tracy Police Department Monday night as six warrants were served. Four were on residences in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where all three vehicles were seized and where Sandra Cantu lives and was last seen. Another was served at a Tracy martial arts school, and the last at a home in Oakdale.

Tracy police Lt. Jeremy Watney said he could not reveal what was taken from any of the sites.

Watney said that two people were named in the search warrants and were deemed “persons of interest” by investigators. No arrests relating to Sandra’s disappearance have been made.

Update 04-03-09: Mike Galanos, CNN Headline News (HLN) is reporting a Hello Kitty shirt has been found at the dump which is being searched in her disappearance. Searchers are scouring the Tracy dump for evidence in the case of missing Sandra Cantu. He has not stated the shirt is linked to her but only that it is similar to the shirt she was last seen wearing.

The reward has been increased to $26,000.

Update 04-06-09: There are two new developments in her disappearance according to KCRA 3 News; one involves the discovery of a container and the other her father’s criminal past.

While the girl’s father, Daniel Cantu, is not a suspect in the case, details have emerged about his criminal past.

A search of court records in San Joaquin County Superior Court showed five criminal cases involving Daniel Cantu dating between 2001 and 2005. Charges included possession of a controlled substance; resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer; possession of a controlled substance for sale; and possession of a hypodermic needle or syringe.

Records also show the court assigned Cantu to drug court at one point, but he was dropped from the program.

According to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Cantu was sentenced to two years in prison for possession of a controlled substance for sale. He served 13 months between September 2005 and October 2006.

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. — A sealed container was found Monday in a San Joaquin County irrigation ditch, and investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility that it could be related to the disappearance of Sandra Cantu.

San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department spokesman Les Garcia said the container is considered a suspicious item.

A suitcase discovered by farmworkers at about 10 a.m. yesterday contained the body of missing Sandra Cantu. Her remains were found in an area previously searched. Farmworkers were draining apond to water a field at a dairy farm on Bacchetti Road when the container was discovered. An autopsy is schedule for this morning.

One Response

I have all the sympathy in the world for mental illness and the people who suffer from it. But at some point, society had to draw the line. Murdering children should be treated as the most heinous of crimes and punishable by death.

As insensitive as this may sound, this crime requires the strongest sentence in our society. Children don’t ride their bikes or play in the front yard. Streets are bare of activity…and for good reason. How can parents protect their children?

I believe the parents fears of allowing their children outside to play pays a large part in obesity in children. This is an early death sentence for kids.

The death penalty should be immediate with no appeals. At this point in time when our economy is in the toiler, we’re paying over $34,000.00 to house ONE criminal. However, cost is second in concern and removing child abusers/killers from our society for good is the first.

The chances of convicting an innocent person will be all but gone with the technology available. If someone gets called in during an investigation, then if they’re innocent, forensics should be able to prove that and they damn sure should have a solid aliby. No more slaps on the wrist and chances of parole. Dead children=dear criminal.